‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter
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Welcome to The Travel Brief, your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as our latest reviews and features.
If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up here to receive this free newsletter in your inbox every Monday. Please forward it to any colleagues who you think may be interested.
The latest UK business travel news:
British Airways pulls out of Beijing – we were first with the news
British Airways adds a third Cape Town flight this winter
The Qantas non-stop London to Perth flight gains a stop as Middle East tensions cause detours and fuel issues
The Warsaw Marriott hotel deflags with no notice
British Airways relaunches its Bangkok Airways codeshare
New Birmingham, Newcastle and Heathrow airport restaurants join Priority Pass
Heathrow Express is still offering £10 one-way tickets for August – and now with 10 Heathrow Rewards points per £1 on top!
Get a good deal with Groupon Travel – yes, Groupon is still alive and has a good selection of travel deals
Stories we recommend from other sites:
IHG to debut Vignette Collection in Hungary (Business Traveller)
Emirates first refurbished Boeing 777 takes flight (Travel Weekly)
Tui UK Director to join Loganair as new COO (UK Aviation News)
Leeds Bradford Airport CEO wants airlines to offer flights to US & Middle East (Simple Flying)
Whitbread opens dual-branded hotel by London’s Paddington station (Business Traveller)
Our latest reviews:
Looking for an alternative to the Maldives? Rhys explores the Seychelles to see how it compares and what it has to offer. Our introductory guide on how to get there and what you can do in the Seychelles is here.
- Review: Canopy by Hilton Seychelles
- Review: Waldorf Astoria Seychelles: paradise on Platte Island, image above
- Review: Mango House Seychelles, part of Hilton’s LXR brand
On the way back, he popped into the Abu Dhabi Pearl Lounge in Terminal A, which is the lounge used by British Airways and Priority Pass.
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
NEW: Earn Avios when you spend in-store at Gail’s
Exclusive HfP offer: save 25% on a SeatSpy annual subscription
Get 5,000 Virgin Points by activating Tesco Clubcard auto-convert
Get a 20% discount buying World of Hyatt points – click here to buy
Get a 100% bonus buying Hilton Honors points – click here to buy
What are the best hotel promotions for August?
Don’t be taken in by BA’s incorrect OnBusiness email this week – your points ARE expiring!
Got Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite status? Get United Airlines status for free
Receive between 2,500 and 300,000 Avios (or cash) with Nutmeg’s ISA transfer offer
Get 1,000 Virgin Points with your first booking with Virgin Trains Ticketing
How to add Head for Points to your smartphone homescreen like an app, to make it easy to check our stories every day
STILL RUNNING: Get 40,000 points (converts to 40,000 Avios) PLUS £400 of travel credit with American Express Platinum!
American Express has launched an exceptional deal on The Platinum Card – apply here. You will receive £400 to spend at American Express Travel on top of the standard bonus of 40,000 Membership Rewards points.
40,000 Membership Rewards points convert to:
- 40,000 Avios
- 40,000 Virgin Points
- 40,000 Emirates, Etihad, Flying Blue, Asia Miles, Delta, Finnair, Qantas or SAS miles
- 26,666 Singapore Airlines miles
- 80,000 Hilton Honors points
- 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
- 180,000 Radisson Rewards points
- 2,666 Club Eurostar points
….. and many other non-travel rewards.
You receive your £400 Amex Travel credit and 40,000 points after spending £6,000 in three months.
Whilst the annual fee is £650, this is currently refundable pro-rata if you cancel. Amex is planning to end pro-rata refunds in ‘late’ 2024 but we don’t know exactly when.
Our main article on the ‘£400 + 40,000 points’ bonus is here. Make sure you read the bit about whether or not you qualify for the bonus.
Don’t forget the other benefits of The Platinum Card:
- £300 of annual dining credit
- £100 of annual Harvey Nichols credit
- two ‘unlimited use’ Priority Pass airport lounge cards which admit four people between them
- travel and car hire insurance
- elite status with Hilton, Marriott, Radisson and Melia
- Eurostar lounge access
…. and much more.
You can apply for The Platinum Card with the special bonus on this page of the Amex website.
The representative APR is 704.6% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 31.0% variable.
Head for Points receives a commission if you apply via our link – thank you.
Thank you for reading
Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.
Rob, Rhys and Katie @ Head for Points
PS. If you were forwarded ‘The Travel Brief’ by a colleague, you can sign up for a free subscription by filling in the form here
